Damaspia

Damaspia (from Old Persian *Jāmāspi- [1] or *ðāmāspyā-[2]) was a queen of Persia, wife of King Artaxerxes I, and mother of Xerxes II, his legitimate heir. She was Persian.

Damaspia
Queen of Persia
Died424 BC
SpouseArtaxerxes I
IssueXerxes II
HouseAchaemenid
ReligionZoroastrianism

According to the Greek historian Ctesias of Cnidus, King Artaxerxes and his wife died the same day (424 BC, perhaps during a military expedition), and their corpses were carried to Persia. Xerxes succeeded his father, but was murdered not much later (423 BC) by his half-brother Sogdianus.

The epitome made by Photius of Ctesias' book is the only source that mentions Damaspia by name.[3] Documents from Babylon dating in Artaxerxes' reign, refer to certain estates as "the house of the woman of the palace". This anonymous woman could be Damaspia, or the Queen Mother Amestris.[4]

Notes
  1. Schmitt.
  2. Hinz.
  3. https://www.livius.org/ct-cz/ctesias/photius_persica2.html#%A74747 Archived 2016-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Brosus, pp. 127, 129.

References
  • Brosius, M: Women in Ancient Persia, 559-331 BC, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998.
  • Schmitt, R: "Damaspia", in Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  • Hinz, W: Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen, Wiesbaden, 1975
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